McDonald’s Denies Taking A Bite Out Of Art Director’s License Plate Concept Ads
Video screenshot via McDonald’s UK
The Golden Arches have found themselves in a bit of a McFlurry over an out-of-home campaign that a freelance creative suspects is a copy of his work.
Extending upon its Next Stop, McDonald’s commercial, in which a crowd is seen to be stuck in traffic, McDonald’s UK’s new visuals imagine the names of the chain’s iconic menu items as supersized personalized number plates on roadsides.
Leo Burnett UK and McDonald's have faced claims of plagiarism from a freelance art director, Zed Anwar, who said the brand's latest out-of-home campaign bears a striking resemblance to work he posted online four months ago.https://t.co/n3edIxqEer
— Campaign US (@CampaignLiveUS) August 14, 2023
The designs, depicting alphanumeric characters reading “BIG MAC,” “FR IE5,” and “MLK 5HK,” have been a little close for comfort for UK-based freelance art director Zed Anwar, who submitted similar concepts to the One Minute Briefs community challenge back in March.
On the plate 🚗 #DRIVETHRUS #McDonalds @McDonaldsUK @OneMinuteBriefs @mcdonalds #advertising #fastfood #burgers pic.twitter.com/V9TMK5HNaO
— Zed Anwarâ±ï¸ (@ZedTrafficker) March 31, 2023
Taking to LinkedIn, Anwar said he was “in tears” as he had been turned away by many advertising agencies and also had his concepts plagiarized by other brands before.
“I am looking for work and do these ideas all day long,” he shared in an emotive address to Leo Burnett UK, the advertising firm behind the campaign. “This is not fair. I am struggling as a creative to feed my kids, and here is McDonald’s stealing my work.”
Hey @LeoBurnettUK if you are going to copy my homework, at least offer my a interview? I am really upset https://t.co/jXcaeUzCWY @OneMinuteBriefs @BOC_ATM pic.twitter.com/08gPwKYzId
— Zed Anwarâ±ï¸ (@ZedTrafficker) August 9, 2023
He tells Campaign that he sent the fast-food giant a direct message on Twitter for thoughts on his spec work at the time, but did not hear back from the brand.
A spokesperson for Leo Burnett UK tells the advertising magazine that the concept was “presented internally in January,” before being shown to the client the following month.
Louise Page, head of consumer communications and partnerships at McDonald’s UK and Ireland, has responded to Anwar’s post, writing, “Leo [Burnett]’s have already been in touch directly to clarify this work was signed off almost a year ago, long before the DM to our socials. Appreciate these things are highly complex. We have a franchisee who has had one of these number plates for many years too, it’s quite the head-turner!”
Anwar isn’t fully convinced by the explanation, and says the past few days “have been very traumatic” for him as the episode adds to a history of multiple rejections from the industry, intellectual property theft, and mounting self-doubt resulting from those experiences.
“I think now is the time for real closure and support from the creative industry,” he notes.
